exercise

Information and advice on living more healthy lives, it seems, is everywhere. It’s on every platform, digital and traditional—online and print, videos and books, webinars and live seminars, network news and online features.

Living an active lifestyle is a fun way to maintain a healthy mind and body.

In April 2015, the Institute of Medicine released a groundbreaking report on what older Americans can do to keep their brains healthy. The report said that obesity was likely to increase the risk of cognitive decline. The same month, a major study in the British medical journal Lancet found that being underweight in middle age and old age is linked to an increased risk for dementia. Confused? You’re not alone. This is just one example of scientific reports that generate conflicting news headlines. Do brain games work to strengthen memory? Does lifting weights and practicing yoga make a difference? Can certain foods decrease risk of dementia?

The popularity of yoga continues to grow, not only in the sheer numbers of people doing it, but also among older adults and men, according to a new national survey.

A new report shows Americans are getting better at smoking less, exercising more and reducing deaths from heart disease, but the past year has also brought an alarming rise in the rate of drug deaths, obesity and diabetes.

En español | What are you doing to keep your brain healthy? When it comes to our brain health,” we Latinos are not always so diligent. We can easily discuss diabetes, how to lower our cholesterol or how to relieve the pain of arthritis inherited from our grandmother. We diet to lose weight for our daughter’s upcoming wedding, we walk to find a cure for our friend’s cancer; but even though we know it’s important to keep our minds healthy, we don't always take steps to slow or prevent the cognitive diseases that can develop over time.

En español | An  AARP survey on brain health has found a significant gap between what people believe is good for their brains and what they actually do to preserve their cognitive function. The survey, of more than 1,500 adults over age 40, found that although 98 percent said maintaining and improving brain health was very or somewhat important, only about half are participating in activities — such as exercising, eating a healthy diet and reducing stress — that have been shown to protect cognitive health. Nearly 4 in 10 surveyed also said they have noticed a decline in their ability to remember things over the past five years.

There's no debate that exercise can help us live a longer, healthier life. But let's say you have a chronic health condition that makes exercise difficult. Or maybe you're just very busy. Is there a minimum amount of exercise older adults can do to reap at least some benefits?

Pearl Turner, 85, is excited on this clear, sunny, Saturday morning. Soon the lobby of the Annie B. Rose House, an apartment complex where she lives with residents who are older or have disabilities, will overflow with fresh kale, okra, bread, cantaloupe, berries and peaches, all donated by area farmers who sell produce at the Old Town Farmers’ Market in Alexandria, Va.

For years, doctors have recommended exercise as one of the best ways to keep our brains healthy as we age. Now new research finds that regular sustained exercise may be able to slow or even reverse the biological changes that cause dementia. What’s more, exercise may even be an effective treatment for those with Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia.